Domestic animal telephone

ABSTRACT

A phone for pets and pet owners is taught which allows the owner to call the house and “talk” to the pet. The owner can then see a video image of the pet in front of the pet phone to verify presence and happiness. The device can also present the owner&#39;s scent to the pet and deliver treats on remote command. In some embodiments, the pet can initiate the phone call.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/142,149, filed May 31, 2005, which claims priority of Jun. 07, 2004to U.S. Provisional Application 60/560,066, both of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A large number of individuals have mammalian pets in their homes. Theseare typically dogs or cats. When the pet owners are away at work theyoften would like to communicate with their pets. Similarly, the petsoften would like to communicate with their owner.

Speaker phones have been modified, by the Ablephone company, by adding alarge button expander of a “speed dial” button for trained rescue dogsto call 911 in an emergency. While such a system is probably useful forsome medical emergencies, it does not provide any “social” communicationor emotional comfort on either side. Unfortunately, such a system tothis date there has been no practical means for this sort ofcommunication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The gist of this invention is a practical telephone for mammalian pets.The major teaching of this invention is a telephone that can be calledby a human from a remote location in such a way that the animal cananswer the phone. Another teaching of the invention is a phone that canbe dialed by a mammalian pet to a programmed number which will typicallybe the office number of the owner.

Other significant objects of the invention are a domestic mammalianphone that will release a human scent to the animal by remote command.Another teaching is an apparatus to allow a human owner at a remotelocation to release a small food treat to a pet.

Another important teaching of this invention is an apparatus and methodto allow audiovisual communication remotely between a pet and an owner.Another important teaching of this invention is a phone with soft fuzzyor soft pliable durable sections for pet licking or chewing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the front view of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows another front view of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 shows the side view of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 shows the method of the invention for receiving an outside call.

FIG. 5 shows the method of the invention for generating a call by theanimal.

FIG. 6 shows the electronic circuits schematic.

FIG. 7 shows the method of the invention for releasing a food treat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows the basic apparatus of the invention. The animal phone 10comprises a video monitor or liquid crystal or other video display 12 toshow the owner's face and also comprises a speaker 14 to perform thespeakerphone functions. Camera 16 captures the pet image as well as anypart of the room covered by the lens. A door 18 covers a scentreservoir, which will allow the owner to release a scent to the animalby remote control.

A treat reservoir is located inside the phone that would release a treatto a holding cup 20 on the front of the phone. Paw pad 22 is used by theanimal to dial the phone to call the owner. This paw pad 22 is hiddenwithin semi-protective opening 30. Fuzzy short arms 24 and longer legs26 are used for additional comfort for the animal. These may be purelypassive for rubbing or may be motorized for petting of the animal.Preferably they are passive but removable so they can be replaced afterpet damage. High friction feet (typically rubber) are attached to thebottom of the pet phone to make it hard to slide around.

FIG. 2 shows a simplified front version of the apparatus. Again thevisual monitor 12 shows a face of the owner at a remote locationspeaking through speaker 14. The animal's face (and room behind) iscaptured by camera 16. On remote command the double doors 18 may beopened via an electrical solenoid to release scent from an owner-scentedobject hidden within.

The treat cup 20 will hold a treat such as a food pellet, a little bone,and a bone cookie that was released also by remote control. Finally thepaw pad 22 is somewhat covered within the opening of the cave 30 toallow the animal to call the owner without too many accidental calls.

The video display is preferably between 10-15 cm in diameter (or heightand width) but dimensions of 5-20 cm are also acceptable. The porticofor the answer/call paw switch is ideally about 3-4 inches in width andabout 3-5 inches in height. However, widths of 4-6 inches and heights of5-7 inches are also functional. The width of the main body of the phoneis preferably 7-12 inches but widths of 5-18 inches are also functional.The width of the base is preferably greater than that of the main bodyto make it resistant to tipping by the pet. Ideally, the base is 2-5inches wider than the main body but it may be 5-8 inches wider for evengreater stability. The height of the pet phone is preferably matched tothe eye height of the pet that will be using it and different models maybe made with different heights. In general, the preferred height isabout 15-22 inches. However a height of 12-15 inches is preferred for asmall dog or cat model. A height of 22-36 inches is preferred for alarge dog model.

FIG. 3 shows the side view of the invention. We see the side view of theliquid crystal display 12 and the camera 16 to allow the owner to seethe pet's image as well. Door 18 is used to shield a scented item 42 inthe scent reservoir with fan motor 40 behind it. In operation the ownerwould place a small item of scented clothing such as a sock into thescent reservoir. Upon remote command the fan motor 40 would be enabledand the door 18 would open. This would blow the owner's scent throughthe door to the portal into the animal's face giving the pet thereassurance of the owner's scent.

The treat reservoir system comprises an input chute 54 which feeds intoa reservoir area 56. On remote command the solenoid 58 lifts up enoughto allow the passage of one treat which then falls down through chute 60to sit outside into the treat reservoir cup 20. In this figure we alsosee a side view of the paw pad 22 within the cutout area 30.

Finally, at the top of the phone is a small keypad 52 to allow for theprogramming of various functions and, most importantly, the owner's workor mobile phone number. USB connector 50 is used to allow the owner todownload a fixed picture into the screen 12. This could also be used todownload an MP3 file of pleasant music or the owner's voice whenever thecall did not go through.

The depth of the device main body is preferably 6-8 inches. However,depths of 2-12 inches can also be functional. The depth of the base ispreferably 4-6 inches greater than that of the main body while a basedepth of only 0-4 inches would still be functional. This figure shows anoptional lip on the front of the base.

FIG. 4 shows the method of the invention to handle an outside call.First at step 100 a call is made from the outside and it is answered. Atstep 102 the method asks if a PIN was detected. If it is not then atstep 118 the method will simply hang up and return to monitoring mode.

If a PIN was detected then the method will go down to generate a specialring on the speaker in step 104. At step 106 the method will ask if thepaw switch was depressed. If the answer is “no” then at step 120 themethod will ask if there have been ten rings. The method will continuetrying until 10 rings have been received. At the end of 10 rings thenthe method will proceed to step 118 to hang up. In an alternativeembodiment, the telephone will automatically answer after the tenth ifthe correct PIN was entered. Thus the pet would not have to pushanything and would merely have 10 rings to approach the phone andlisten.

In an alternative embodiment, the verification, that the call is fromthe owner, is made by the use of “Caller ID.” This is not preferred asan owner may wish to call in from many different phone lines including ahotel.

If the pet answers the phone by depressing the paw switch then at step108 the method will turn on the fan. At step 110 it will activate thedoor solenoid to enable the animal to sense the scent of the owner. Atstep 112 the method will enable the speakerphone. At step 114 the methodwill ask if there is video signal. If not it will present a storedpicture at step 122. If there is a video signal present then the methodwill present that video signal at step 116 to the animal. This would bethe case if the owner has, for example, a web cam on their computer atwork.

Research on the pet phone has led to very interesting results. The petphone was partially simulated with a high resolution iSight™ camera,high resolution Apple® liquid crystal monitors, high fidelity JBLspeakers, and the iChat™ video conferencing program. At one location wasa yellow Labrador retriever (and participating researchers) and at aremote location was a member of the owner's family with a goodrelationship with the dog. After the link was established, the dog wasdirected to the monitor with a large and very clear image of the humansmiling “at the dog.” The dog was absolutely unimpressed. But, the humanwas extremely pleased to see the remote image of the dog on her monitor!

The study then advanced into an audio portion. The remote human calledout the dog's name and spoke in a pleasant and energetic voice. The dogwas immediately transformed and began wagging her tail and eagerlytrying to find the exact location of the speaker. However, the remotehuman could not entice the dog to “speak” back. While it was clear thatthe dog was thrilled to hear the familiar voice, it had no interest inreciprocating. Nevertheless, the remote human was very satisfied to seethe obvious happiness in the visual image of the dog.

From this research comes the nonobvious “Law of Pet Telecommunication.”The law is as follows: for successful pet telecommunication, the humanmust see and the pet must hear. As a corollary, there is minimal utilityin passing the human image to the pet and minimal utility is passing thepet's sounds to the human. Hence, an attractive and economicalembodiment of the pet phone transmits the human voice and the pet videoimage but does not transmit the human image. This saves the cost of anLCD screen on the pet phone.

FIG. 5 discusses the basic method for the phone to make a call. In step140 the method will monitor the paw switch. If the switch is depressedthen in step 142 the method will detect that. It will then go on to step144 to check if the call limit per day has been exceeded. For example,the owner may limit the pet to calling 4 times per day. If this calllimit is exceeded then the method will ignore the paw switch depressionand go back to monitoring mode. If the answer in step 144 is “no” thenthe method will go on to step 146.

At step 146 the method will ask is the call in excess of the hourlylimit. If the answer is “yes” then the method will go back into themonitoring mode. If the answer is “no” the method will go to step 148and call the stored number.

FIG. 6 shows the basic electronic circuitry of the apparatus. Paw switch22 is pulled up by resistor 202 which is then fed into the programmableinput/output (PIO) chip 206. The PIO receives the keyboard 52 signal andalso drives the fan through motor driver 204. The PIO furthercommunicates with the USB port connector 50. The PIO commands the scentdoor solenoid 240 to open through a solenoid driver circuit 216. The PIOalso enables the treat reservoir solenoid 58 through solenoid drivingcircuitry 218. The power input 208 will typically be fed by a wallmounted power supply such as a simple plug-in transformer. That willdrive the micro-controller 210 which in turns communicates with the PIO206. The PIO communicates with the camera directly or alternativelythrough an image processor integrated circuit. The image is then givingto the micro-controller 210 for further compression before being send tothe telephone chip set 214.

The micro-controller then communicates with the LCD controller 220 whichdrives the LCD 12. The phone plug 212 drives the telephone speakerphonechip set 214 which communicates through amplifier 222 to drive thespeaker 14. Alternatively, the link to the outside world could bethrough a VoIP wireless Internet link. Alternatively, the link to theoutside world could be through an audio/video chat service such as AOLInstant Messenger™ 5.5.

Optional microphone 242 drives the amplifier 224 which then communicateswith the telephone chip set. In an alternative embodiment the speaker 14also functions as a microphone.

FIG. 7 shows the method of the invention for dispensing a treat byremote command. At step 250 a call from the owner is received. At step252 the method asks if the special code *11# is detected. If not thenthe method goes back to monitoring for a normal call. If it is detectedthen it goes to step 254. At this step it will enable the treatreservoir solenoid to open which will let a food treat go down the chuteto the animal. The method will then stop at step 256.

As is well understood, many functions in electronic circuitry may berealized through software program execution and this alternative ismeant to be included whenever it is practical throughout this invention.

1. A method for communicating with an animal comprising: providing acommunications device, the communications device comprising a housing,the housing having therein: a power supply; a microcontroller a speaker;a camera; telecommunications circuitry; and a food dispenser; the powersupply, speaker, camera, telecommunications circuitry and food dispenserbeing in communication with the microcontroller; the communicationsdevice receiving an incoming call from a caller; the communicationsdevice answering the incoming call; the communications deviceestablishing a communications link with the caller; and the callercommunicating with the animal in real-time via the telecommunicationscircuitry and speaker.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising thestep of providing the housing with a display.
 3. The method of claim 2further comprising the step of displaying at least one image on thedisplay.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step ofproviding the housing with a scent reservoir.
 5. The method of claim 4further comprising the step of releasing scent from the scent reservoir.6. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of receiving avideo signal.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step ofdisplaying the video signal on the display.
 8. A method forcommunicating with an animal comprising: providing a communicationsdevice, the communications device comprising a housing, the housinghaving therein: a power supply; a microcontroller a speaker; a camera;telecommunications circuitry; and a food dispenser; the power supply,speaker, camera, telecommunications circuitry and food dispenser beingin communication with the microcontroller; providing a paw switchattached to the communications device; the animal depressing the pawswitch; the communications device initiating an outgoing call to aperson; the communications device establishing a communications linkbetween the animal and the person via the telecommunications circuitry;and the person and animal communicating in real-time via thetelecommunications circuitry and speaker.
 9. The method of claim 8further comprising the step of determining whether an outgoing call canbe placed.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determiningwhether an outgoing call can be placed comprises determining whether apre-specified call limit has been reached.
 11. The method of claim 8further comprising dispensing food to the animal.
 12. The method ofclaim 8 further comprising the steps of providing the housing with adisplay and displaying at least one image on the display.
 13. The methodof claim 8 further comprising the step of providing the housing with ascent reservoir.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the stepof releasing scent from the scent reservoir.
 15. The method of claim 8further comprising the step of receiving a video signal.
 16. The methodof claim 15 further comprising the step of displaying the video signalon the display.
 17. A method for communicating with an animalcomprising: providing a communications device, the communications devicecomprising a housing, the housing having therein: a power supply, amicrocontroller, telecommunications circuitry, and a scent reservoir;the power supply and telecommunications circuitry being in communicationwith the microcontroller; the communications device receiving anincoming call from a caller; the communications device answering theincoming call; the communications device establishing a communicationslink with the caller; and communicating with the animal in real-time viathe telecommunications circuitry.
 18. The method of claim 17 furthercomprising the step of releasing scent from the scent reservoir.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the step of releasing scent from the scentreservoir comprises the step of opening a door.
 20. The method of claim18 further comprising the steps of: providing the housing with a fan andactivating a fan, the fan configured to direct scent from the scentreservoir towards the animal.